Execute a Supabase production deployment checklist covering RLS, key hygiene,
connection pooling, backups, monitoring, Edge Functions, and Storage policies.
Use when deploying to production, preparing for launch, or auditing a live
Supabase project for security and performance gaps. Trigger with "supabase
production", "supabase go-live", "supabase launch checklist", "supabase prod
ready", "deploy supabase", "supabase production readiness".
Execute a Supabase production deployment checklist covering RLS, key hygiene,
connection pooling, backups, monitoring, Edge Functions, and Storage policies.
Use when deploying to production, preparing for launch, or auditing a live
Supabase project for security and performance gaps. Trigger with "supabase
production", "supabase go-live", "supabase launch checklist", "supabase prod
ready", "deploy supabase", "supabase production readiness".
Actionable 14-step checklist for taking a Supabase project to production, based
on Supabase's official production guide.
Each step below carries its verification checklist inline; the full SQL,
TypeScript, and CLI commands for every step live in
references/step-commands.md.
Prerequisites
Supabase project on Pro plan or higher (required for PITR, network restrictions)
Separate production project (never share dev/prod)
Work top to bottom. Every checkbox must be satisfied before go-live. Each step
names the commands to run; copy them from
references/step-commands.md.
Step 1: Enforce Row Level Security on ALL Tables
RLS is the single most critical production requirement. Without it, any client
with your anon key can read/write every row. Start with the audit query — it
must return zero rows before going live:
-- Find tables WITHOUT RLS enabled (must return zero rows before launch)SELECT schemaname, tablename, rowsecurity
FROM pg_tables
WHERE schemaname ='public'AND rowsecurity =false;
Then ALTER TABLE ... ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY and add per-command policies —
full CREATE POLICY patterns in step-commands.md.
RLS enabled on every public table (zero rows from audit query above)
SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE policies defined for each table
Policies tested with both authenticated and anonymous roles
No tables use USING (true) without intent (public read tables only)
Step 2: Enforce Key Separation — Anon vs Service Role
The anon key is safe for client-side code. The service_role key bypasses RLS
entirely and must never leave server-side environments. See the two-client setup
in step-commands.md.
Anon key used in all client-side code (NEXT_PUBLIC_ prefix)
Service role key used only in server-side code (API routes, Edge Functions)
Service role key not in any client bundle (verify with grep -r "service_role" dist/)
Database password changed from the auto-generated default
Step 3: Configure Connection Pooling (Supavisor)
Supabase uses Supavisor for pooling. Serverless functions (Vercel, Netlify,
Cloudflare Workers) MUST use the pooled connection string (port 6543) to avoid
exhausting the database connection limit — direct connections (port 5432) are for
migrations and admin tasks only. Connection strings and client config in
step-commands.md.
Application code uses pooled connection string (port 6543)
Direct connection reserved for migrations and admin tasks only
Connection string in deployment platform env vars (not hardcoded)
Verified pool mode: transaction for serverless, session for long-lived connections
Step 4: Enable Database Backups
Supabase provides automatic daily backups on Pro plan. Point-in-time recovery
(PITR) enables granular restores.
Automatic daily backups enabled (Pro plan — verify in Dashboard > Database > Backups)
OAuth redirect URLs restricted to production domains only
Unused auth providers disabled
Step 8: Understand Rate Limits Per Tier
Supabase enforces rate limits that vary by plan. Hitting these in production
causes 429 errors.
Resource
Free
Pro
Team
API requests
500/min
1,000/min
5,000/min
Auth emails
4/hour
30/hour
100/hour
Realtime connections
200 concurrent
500 concurrent
2,000 concurrent
Edge Function invocations
500K/month
2M/month
5M/month
Storage bandwidth
2GB/month
250GB/month
Custom
Database size
500MB
8GB
50GB
Rate limits documented for your plan tier
Client-side retry logic with exponential backoff for 429 responses
Auth email rate limits understood (use custom SMTP to increase)
Realtime connection limits planned for expected concurrent users
Step 9: Review Monitoring Dashboards
Supabase provides built-in monitoring. Review these before launch to establish
baselines, and deploy a health check endpoint (full route handler in
step-commands.md).
Alerts set for: error rate spikes, high latency, connection pool exhaustion
Step 10: Deploy Edge Functions with Proper Env Vars
Edge Functions run on Deno Deploy. Set environment variables via the Supabase CLI
or Dashboard, not hardcoded. Secret commands and a webhook function template in
step-commands.md.
All Edge Functions deployed to production (npx supabase functions deploy)
Environment secrets set via npx supabase secrets set (not hardcoded)
SUPABASE_URL and SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY available automatically (no need to set)
Edge Functions tested with npx supabase functions serve locally before deploying
CORS headers configured for Edge Functions that receive browser requests
Step 11: Verify Storage Bucket Policies
Storage buckets need explicit policies, similar to RLS on tables. Without
policies, buckets are inaccessible (default deny). Inspection queries and example
policies in step-commands.md.
Each bucket has explicit SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE policies
Public buckets are intentionally public (not accidentally open)
File size limits set per bucket (file_size_limit in bucket config)
Allowed MIME types restricted per bucket (allowed_mime_types)
User upload paths scoped to auth.uid() to prevent overwrites
Step 12: Add Database Indexes on Frequently Queried Columns
Missing indexes are the leading cause of slow queries after launch. Add indexes on
foreign keys, filter columns, and sort columns. Diagnostic queries (missing-index,
slow-query, table-bloat) and index DDL in
step-commands.md.
Indexes on all foreign key columns
Indexes on columns used in WHERE, ORDER BY, and JOIN clauses
pg_stat_statements enabled for ongoing query monitoring
Connection pooling via Supavisor (port 6543) for all application code
Backups, PITR, monitoring, Edge Functions, Storage policies, indexes all verified
Migrations applied cleanly via npx supabase db push
Error Handling
Common go-live failures and their fixes. Full catalog (with HTTP status codes,
alert thresholds, and a Supabase error-code switch handler) in
references/errors.md.
Issue
Cause
Solution
403 Forbidden on all API calls
RLS enabled but no policies created
Add SELECT/INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE policies for each role
429 Too Many Requests
Plan rate limit exceeded
Upgrade plan or implement client-side backoff with retry
